Chapter 887

Kisame's goal wasn't to fight me to the death—he only wanted to use this jutsu to delay me so he could threaten Suijue, who was protected behind. Having long lost patience, Young Yuanzi had no intention of letting Kisame's scheme succeed; she pinned him down firmly until Jiraiya had dealt with the rest of the Kirigakure ninja.

Xiao Mei also saw through Kisame's intent; under her control, a wall of ice rose behind him. Since Young Yuanzi had declared a one-on-one duel, even though she wanted to help, she could only watch from the side.

"You look anxious—don't rush, I haven't had enough fun yet!" These sharks couldn't harm Young Yuanzi at all.

In a flash, they all dissolved into spray. Young Yuanzi gripped North Wind horizontally and charged straight into Kisame's close range. His expression, which had shown little change until now, finally broke into a smile.

He realized at last: he, one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist, was being forced into close combat by a child—who treated him like nothing at all—and yet he couldn't beat her!

"What nonsense! Water Release: Exploding Water Bullets!" Kisame quickly formed hand seals again, choosing a faster jutsu. Water vapor in the surrounding air suddenly gathered, a change Young Yuanzi, within the blast radius, clearly felt: visible to the naked eye, the water formed countless water spheres, and her exceptional dynamic vision even let her see miniature sharks swimming frantically inside each sphere, growing faster and faster.

A chain of explosions instantly drowned the area where Kisame and Young Yuanzi stood. Though Kisame chose water as his explosive material, its power was no less than a Fire Release.

"Huh? Where'd he go?" Even from afar, within the protective ice wall, Jiraiya felt the shockwave of the explosion—but he noticed that Lin Cheng, who had just woken up, had quietly vanished while everyone's attention was focused on Young Yuanzi and Kisame's battle.

"Impossible! How could this be?!" The mist of water from the explosion slowly cleared, and Kisame stared in disbelief at what lay before him: Young Yuanzi wasn't battered or wounded as he expected—she was completely unharmed.

But Young Yuanzi herself was also surprised—not by Kisame, but by Lin Cheng, standing beside her.

"Eight Trigrams Palm: Revolving Heaven!" was an extremely advanced fist technique of the Hyuga clan, requiring extreme conditions from the user. Based on Young Yuanzi's observations over these days, although Lin Cheng had talent, she absolutely lacked the capability to master a technique of this level.

"I've been holding back all this time, watching you grow more arrogant—your arrogance has its limits, fool!" It was definitely Lin Cheng, yet she radiated an unmistakably different aura. Of course she did: a girl who rarely spoke and was usually passive had suddenly become forceful.

Lin Cheng displayed not only her sudden change in demeanor but also, after perfectly deflecting the explosion with "Revolving Heaven," stepped forward directly. Young Yuanzi could almost see the faint, shimmering Taiji beneath her feet. Kisame, who had been retreating to create distance, couldn't escape this circle.

"Just now, Lin Cheng, you called him a fool? Did I hear that right?" Given Lin Cheng's terrifying aura, which even overshadowed Young Yuanzi's, she spoke with passive tone but still needed to confirm: had Lin Cheng really insulted the opponent?

Hmm, it sounded odd—not quite an insult. Maybe big clans speak like this? Young Yuanzi tilted her head, straining to recall—no one had ever mentioned anything like this to her. Probably the Hyuga clan was just unusual.

Hyuga Hiashi: I never taught that—I'm not taking the blame!

While Young Yuanzi was thinking, Lin Cheng had already closed the distance into Kisame's personal safety range, ignoring the massive Samehada blade swinging toward her neck. One punch landed squarely on Kisame's stomach, and the giant, over twice her height, performed a perfect water-skipping maneuver on land, finally crashing headfirst into the dense forest—and never surfaced again.